Abrasive article



Aug- 23, 1966 A. BLOCK 3,267,623

ABRASIVE ARTICLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 8, 1963 Aug. 23, 1966 A. BLOCK 3,267,623

ABRASIVE ARTICLE Filed Feb. 8, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F' ,if

55 I JZ 0 .fea/ fad/M 120 ref/M) fea/(M147. jf?

United States Patent O 3,267,623 ABRASiVE AR'HCLE Aieck Block, Los Angeles, Calif., assigner to Merit Products. inc., Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Cailfornia Filed Feb. 8, 1963, Ser. No. 257,263 13 Claims. (Cl. 51-406) This invention relates to adhesively coat'ed .abrasive disks for use on rotary surface finishing tools and is directed to the problem -of dispensing the disk in a convenient and time-saving manner.

For many years it has been a widespread practice to provide abrasive disks such as disks of emery cloth, sandpaper and the like with normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive coatings on the back faces to cause the disks to adhere to rotary tools. A rotary tool for this purpose has a rot-ary disk-shaped `face on which such an abrasive disk is releasably mounted by simply pressing the adhesive side of the disk against the tool. When the abrasive disk loses its efficiency it is peeled away from the tool for replacement by a new disk,

The heretofore prevalent practice has been to sell the adhesively coated abrasive disks in stacks in which the adhesive coating of one disk adhesively engages the abrasive face of the next disk. The shelf life of such a stack of disks is short if the stack is exposed to the atmosphere to permit the pressure-sensitive adhesive material to dry out by evaporation of its solvent content. For this reason the stacks of disks are commonly enveloped in plastic casings which are peeled away progressively as the disks are successively removed from the stack.

It has long been apparent that it is a costly matter to supply the abrasive disks in this manner to h-ighly p aid skilled craftsmen because of the time that is consumed in removing the individual disks from the supply stack. The difficulty is that the craftsman must use his fingernails to separate a disk from the stack and, since the successive disks are coextensive and in accurate register withV each other, the fingernail operation is tedious and time-consuming. Too often, moreover, two disks instead of one lare separated from the stack and it then becomes an awkward and time-consuming matter to separate the two disks from each other.

It is also a disadvantage to be forced to take time to peel back the plastic casing by increments as the disks are used. The separated portion -of the plastic casing interferes with the necessary manipulation and the craftsman is tempted to tear away the whole casing for premature exposure of all of the disks of the stack.

The present invention is characterized by the basic concept of providing means in the formrof a strip or ribbon carrying a series of easily removable disks. It is to be understood that the disks need not be strictly circular. Thus the term disk includes non-circular configurations, such as oval configurations, ploygonal configurations, etc. Conterminous edges that must be separated by fingernail manipulation are completely eliminated. The invention is further characterized by the concept of supplying such a strip in the form of a spirally wound roll to be unrolled progressively for advancing the disks in succession into a dispensing zone that is within convenient reach of the craftsman.

In one practice of the invention the adhesively coated abrasive disks are produced in a strip comprising a chain of disks with the successive disks interconnected by integral narrow necks that are easily severed by hand. A second plastic strip covers the adhesive face of the chain of disks to form therewith a composite strip. The plastic strip keeps the adhesive coating from drying out and is rice readily peeled away from the pressure-sensitive adhesive coating as the disks are used.

The starting end of the plastic ribbon extends beyond the material of the chain of disks to avoid conterminous edges and thus facilitate initiation of the peeling action. The craftsman s-imply peels the plastic strip as required to expose a new abrasive disk and then easily tears the newly exposed abrasive disk away from the chain. For further facilitating rapid dispensing of the individual abrasive disks, the composite strip may be formed into a supply roll and the plastic strip may be wound onto a discard roll to pull the composite strip into a dispensing zone and to peel the plastic strip away from the chain of disks at the dispensing zone. A

In a second practice of the invention, a simple ribbon of flexible material is provided in which one face of the ribbon is coated with abrasive material and the other face is coated with a normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive. Disk segments `are incompletely severed from the ribbon, the disk segments being, in effect, tongues of the ribbon material attached to the ribbon by narrow easily ruptured integral neck portions. A special feature of this practice of the invention is the concept of lbending the ribbon to cause the individual tongues to swing away from the ribbon for convenient grasp by the craftsman.

A further feature is the concept Vof supplying this ribbon in the form of a roll with a sealing coat on each of t-he two opposite sides of the roll to seal off the edges of the plastic coating of the ribbon from the atmosphe-re. No manipulation is necessary t-o free the ribbon from the sealing coat as the ribbon unrolls. As will be ex-v plained, maximum convenience for the craftsman is ach-ieved by providing a suitable guide means in a dispensing zone and by providing actuating means to move a strip through the dispensing zone with the strip changing direction at the guide means t-o cause the successive diskshaped tongues to swing outward from the strip'.

In a third practice of the invention, individually coated abrasive disks are spaced along a plastic ribbon, the disks being mounted facewise on the plastic ribbon with their adhesive coatings contacting the ribbon and -1'eleasably holding the disks on the ribbon. The plastic ribbon carries the abrasive disks in sequence to a dispensing zone where the disks are easily and quickly separated from the plastic ribbon since there are no conte-rminous edges.

As will be explained, the invention further includes methods of fabricating ribbons for use in dispensing the adhesively coated abrasive disks.

The features and advantages of the invention may be understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which are to be regarded as merely illustrative:

FIG. l is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention comprising a strip in the form of a chain of abrasive disks with a second plastic strip covering and protecting the adhesive faces of the disks;

FIG. 2 is a perspective View of a rotary abrasive tool with an adhesively coated abrasive disk poised for application to the working face of the tool;

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of a dispensing apparatus wherein a roll of the composite strip shown in FIG. l is fed to a dispensing zone and the adhesive strip or ribbon is wound into a roll for separation from the chain of abrasive disks;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan View of a second embodiment of the invention in 4which disk-shaped segments are incompletely severed from a ribbon of flexible sheet material that is coated on one face with abrasive particles and is coated on the other face with a normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive;

aac-'Aena FIG. is a perspective view of an arrangement for dispensing disks from the ribbon shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, illustrating a method of fabricating the ribbon shown in FlG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a cutting element for forming the incompletely severed disk-shaped segments shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary plan view of a platen incorporated in the apparatus shown in FiG. 6 with apertures in the platen for the application of a vacuum to the ribbon to keep the ribbon from adhesively clinging to the reciprocating cutting tool;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a supply roll of the ribbon shown in FIG. 4 with the opposite side faces of the roll covered with a sealing coat;

FG. 10 is a radial section of the roll shown in FIG. 9 taken as indicated by the line lil-lil;

FIG. 1l is a fragmentary plan View similar to FIG. 4 showing a simil-ar ribbon with more than one row of the incompletely severed diskshaped segments;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating a third practice of the invention in which individual abrasive disks are releasably adhesvely bonded to a plastic ribbon at spaced positions thereon, the view showing an apparatus for conveniently dispensing the disks;

FIG. 13 is a somewhat diagrammatic view, partly in side elevation and partly in section, illustrating a method of fabricating the embodiment shown in FIG. l2; and

FIG. 14 is a section along the line 14-14 of FIG. 13 showing a punch with a circular blade for producing the individual adhesively coated abrasive disks.

The first embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. l and 2 is a composite strip or ribbon comprising a first strip, generally designated 2i), in the form of a chain of disk segments 22 and a second strip 24 of plastic material releasably adhesively bonded to the rst strip. The first strip has a base layer 25 of flexible sheet material such as woven fabric with a layer 26 (FIG. 2) of abrasive particles on one face of the strip and a coating 28 (FIG. 1) on the other face of the strip. The individual disk segments 22 are interconnected by integral narrow neck portions 30 to form a chain from which the individual disk segments 22 may be readily separated by tearing the neck portions. As shown in FIG. 2 each of the resulting disks 22a is of the desired circular conliguration with only insignificant indications of the severed neck portions, the indications `being designated by the numeral 32. In this particular embodiment of the invention, the plastic strip 24 conforms in configuration to the segmented abrasive strip 26 but it is to be understood that the second plastic strip may be of a different configuration, for example, the configuration of a simple ribbon with straight side edges.

In actual use the plastic strip 24 is peeled away from the abrasive strip Ztl to expose the disk segments 22 as they are required and then the disk segments are simply manually removed in sequence. T o facilitate the initiation of the peeling of the plastic strip 24 from the abrasive strip 20, the plastic strip has a marginal portion 34 which extends beyond the margin of the abrasive strip to avoid conterminous edges. The marginal tab or 4tongue 34 makes it a simple matter to start the peeling operation and thereafter the peeling operation is a simple matter because it may be continued by simply grasping the two strips and pulling the strips apart to the desired degree. In the construction shown the marginal tab 34 is further provided with an aperture 35 to serve as means whereby a supply of the composite strips may be conveniently hung on a hook or pin within reach of the craftsman.

FIG. 2 shows a typical rotary tool on which the adhesively coated abrasive disks are adapted to be releasably mounted. The tool has a shank or stem 36 by means of which it may be releasably engaged by rotary power means. A circular head 3d is mounted on the shank 36 by a suitable supporting hub structure 4t), the circular head being, for example, made of flexible rubber. The circular head 38 has a smooth planar working face 42 to which the successive disk members 22a may be releasably bonded by simply pressing the adhesive faces ofthe disk members against the working face.

FlG. 3 shows an apparatus for conveniently dispensing disk members 22 from a composite strip of the construction shown in FIG. 1. The apparatus shown in FIG. 3 has a housing 44 which encloses a supply reel 45 mounted on a suitably journalled shaft 46 for manual rotation by an external crank 48. Inside the housing44 above the supply lreel 45 is a guide roller Sil and further guide means includes a second guide roller52 and a smooth rounded upper edge 54 of the housing. The second guide roller 52 deiines the upper edge of a slot 55 in the forward wall of the housing and a suitable serrated cutting bar 56 forms the bottom edge of the slot. Mounted on the upper side of the housing 44 is a take-up reel 53 journalled in a bracket 66 for rotation by a crank 62.

The composite strip of the construction shown in TJFIG. 1 Iis wound onto the supply reel 45 with the abrasive coating 26 uppermost and the composite strip or ribbon passes over the `first guide roller 50, under the second guide roller 52 and over the guide edge 54 to reach the take-up reel 58, where the plastic strip is wound into a roll that is eventually discarded. It is apparent that the lower crank 48 may be rotated to wind a supply of the composite strip onto the reel 45 or, if preferred, reels 45 with composite strips wound thereon may be sold to be used replaceably on the shaft 46. lt is further apparent that the upper crank 62 may be operated intermittently to pull the composite strip through the slot 55 where the abrasive strip 20 may beseparated from the plastic strip 24. The composite strip may also be advanced through the slot d5 by manual pull on the composite strip or on either of the two strips Ztl and 24.

The second embodiment of the invention shown in PIG. 4 comprises a ribbon 64 of the same laminar construction as the abrasive strip E@ of the iirst embodiment of the invention. Thus the ribbon 64 comprises a flexible base layer of fabric or the like with a layer 65 of abrasive (FIG. 5) on one face of the ribbon and a layer 66 of normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive (FIG. 4) on the other face of the ribbon. At spaced locations the ribbon 64 is cut along incomplete circles to form disk-shaped tongues 68 that are attached to the ribbon proper by relatively narrow easily severed integral neck portions 7l). It is contemplated that the circular cuts that form the tongues 63 will be at least on the order of ninety percent (90%) of full circles so that the gaps that form the neck portion 7l? will have a circumferential extent of not more than approximately 36. Preferably, the necks are narrower than 36c as shown.

FG. 5 shows means for dispensing disks from the ribbon 64 in a highly eicient and convenient manner. A supply reel 72 on an axle 74 pays out of the ribbon 64 under the actuation of a take-up reel 75 that may be manually actuated counter-clockwise by a crank '76. rhe take-up reel 75 is provided with a ratchet wheel 78 which cooperates with a pawl 8G biased by a spring 82 to prevent reverse or clockwise rotation of the take-up reel.

It has been found that if the ribbon 64 is bent to an angle the disk-shaped tongues 68 respond to the bending by swinging outwardly away from the ribbon to make it convenient for a craftsman to grasp a tongueand tear it away from the ribbon. The craftsman may simply manually bend a loose piece of ribbon for this purpose but the advantage of the ararngernent shown in FIG. 5 is that the ribbon 64 is bent progressively by passing around a guide roller 54 that is mounted on an axle 85.

FIG. 5 shows how a tongue 68a that is automatically swung outward by the bending action at the guide roller may be manually grasped to be torn away from the ribbon. The pull on the ribbon applied by the act of remov ing the tongue 68a is in the direction away from the take-up reel 75, and consequently tends to cause reverse or clockwise rotation of the take-up reel but such reverse rotation is prevented by the engagement of the pawl with the ratchet wheel 78.

FIG. 6 illustartes an economical procedure for fabricating the ribbon 64. A ribbon 86 of a basic sheet material such as fabric with the coating 65 of abrasive material on one of its two faces is supplied from a ro'll 88, the abrasive coating being on the outer side of the rolled ribbon. The ribbons 86 with its abrasive face down passes under a device 90 which sprays pressure-sensitive adhesive material on the upper face of the ribbon. The adhesively coated ribbon passes under an arcuate cutter 92 on a reciprocating ram 94 that is actuated by a powerdriven crank 95. The crank 95 is operatively connected to the ram 94 by a link or connecting rod 96 and is actuated by a motor 98 through suitable reduction gearing (not shown). The arcuate cutter 92 is of the construction shown in FIG. 7, the cutter having a cutting edge 100 of the configuration of an incomplete circle, the two ends of the cutting edge forming a gap 102 which determines the dimension or width of the neck portions 70 of the diskshaped tongues 68.

In passing under the arcuate cutter 92, the ribbon 86 is supported by a platen 104 which, as indicated in FIG. 8, has numerous small apertures 105 to permit a vacuum to be applied to the underside of the ribbon. The apertures 105 communicate with a passage 106 in the platen which passage is connected to a suitable vacuum source through a solenoid valve 108. Beyond the platen 104 the punched ribbon 64 passes under a guide roller 110 and the nished ribbon is then wound into a roll by a suitable take-up reel 112.

For automatic control of the apparatus, the reciprocating ram 94 has a cut-away portion terminating in a cam shoulder 114 for actuation of a suitable switch 115, the switch having a switch arm 116 that is suitably biased toward the ram. The crank 95 operates continuously for repeated reciprocation of the cutter 92 and the switch controls actuation of the reel 112 to cause intermittent advance of the ribbon 64, the ribbon being advanced one increment as measured by the guide roller 110, each time the cutter 92 is retracted from the ribbon. The switch 115 also controls the solenoid valve 108 to apply a vacuum to the underside of the ribbon as the cutter 92 retracts from the ribbon, the vacuum keeping the newly formed tongue 68 from being pulled upward out of the plane of the ribbon by adherence to the cutter 92. In addition, the switch 115 controls the sprayer 90 by means of a switch 117 to cut off the sprayer when the ribbon pauses for the cutting operation.

FIGS. 9 and 10 show how the ribbon 64 may be packaged for transportation and storage with a long shelf life. FIG. 9 shows a spirally wound supply roll 118 of the ribbon 64, the ribbon being wound with its abrasive coating 65 outermost. The two opposite sides of the supply roll 118 are covered with a suitable seal coat 120 which protects the pressure-sensitive adhesive material of the ribbon from the drying effect of the atmosphere. The seal coat 120 may be of any suitable material which serves the sealing purpose and yet gives way readily to avoid interfering with the unrolling of the ribbon. For example, the two sides of the supply roll 118 may be dipped in paraffin or the two sides may be sprayed with a suitable plastic.

FIG. 11 shows a ribbon 122 of the same construction as the previously described ribbon 64, the difference being that the ribbon 122 is Wide enough for more than one row of the disk-shaped tongues 68. In this instance the ribbon 122 is wide enough for three rows of the disk-shaped tongues with the disk-shaped tongues staggered for economical use of the' sheet material.

The third embodiment of the invention shown in PIG. 12 comprises a ribbon 124 of a suitable plastic with adhesively coated abrasive disks spaced along the ribbon. Each of the abrasive disks 125 is of the previously described construction `comprising a flexible base layer of fabric or the like with an abrasive coating on one face of the disk and with the normally tacky 4pressure-sensitive adhesive on the other face of the disk. The abrasive disks 125 are mounted on the plastic ribbon 122 with their adhesive faces downward, the adhesive coatings of the disks retaining the disks on the ribbon 124 in a readily removable manner. A craftsman may easily and quickly lift an abrasive disk 125 from the ribbon 124 in the manner illustrated in FlG. 12.

FIG. 12 further illustrates a convenient arrangement for dispensing the abrasive disks 125. The ribbon 124 is wound on a supply reel 126 that is mounted on an axle 128, the ribbon being wound with the brasive disks 125 on the outer face of the ribbon. The ribbon extends from the supply reel 126 to a take-up reel 130 that is operated by a suitable crank 132.

FIG. 13 illustrates an efficient method of fabricating the ribbon 124 with the abrasive disks 125 thereon. A reel 134 carrying a roll of a ribbon of the basic sheet material such as a suitable fabric, feeds the basic ribbon 86 to a guide roller 135. From the guide roller 135 the basic ribbon 86 passes under a spray device 90, and over a platen 136 between a pair of pressure rolls 138, 140, the ribbon being ultimately Wound onto a take-up reel 142 that is carried by a power-driven shaft 144. The previously mentioned pressure-sensitive adhesive coating 66 is applied to the ribbon 86 by the sprayer 90 and a circular `cutter 145 is mounted on a reciprocating ram 94 in the previously described manner for punching disks out of the adhesively lcoated ribbon.

The platen 136 is employed in the previously described manner to apply a vacuum to the underside of the ribbon and for this purpose the platen has a previously mentioned passage 106 under the control of a solenoid valve 108. A previously mentioned switch 115 actuated by cam action on the part of the reciprocating ram 94 controls the power-driven shaft 144 for intermittent advance of the ribbon as measured by the lower pressure roll and also controls the solenoid va'lve 108 for the vacuum action as well as controlling the sprayer 90 by means of a control switch 117 to lcut off the sprayer when the ribbon pauses for the cutting operation.

The circular cutter 145 is of the construction shown in FIG. 14, the cutter having a circular cutting edge 148 which conforms to a complete circle. The circular cutter 145 completely severs the abrasive disks 125 from the adhesively coated ribbon 86 but the disks remain in the plane of the ribbon 86 instead of following the retraction of the cutter because the vacuum in the platen completely immobilizes the severed disks. Since the severed disks remain in the plane of the adhesively coated ribbon 86, the disks travel with the ribbon as the ribbon is drawn along the smooth upper surface of a rigid support 150.

A supply roll 152 of the plastic ribbon 124 is mounted above the plane of travel of the yadhesively coated abrasive ribbon. The plastic ribbon 124 passes from the supply roll 152 between the two pressure rolls 138 and 140 and is wound onto a suitable power-actuated take-up reel 154. By virtue of the pressure applied by the two cooperating pressure rolls 138 and 140, the adhesive sides of the severed disks 125 are pressed into adhesive engagement with the plastic ribbon 124.

My description in specific detail of the selected embodiments and practices of the invention will suggest various changes, substitutions and other departures from my disclosure within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Means for dispensing adhesively coated abrasive disks comprising a ribbon of flexible material in the form of a spirally wound roll, said ribbon having -a series of manually releasable disks disposed in spaced relationship to one another along the ribbon and separated from'the ribbon along substantially the full `circumferences of the disks and attached to the ribbon at narrow neck portions of the disks, each disk being coated ywith abrasive material on one of its faces and being coated on its other face with a pressure-sensitive adhesive.

2. An article of manufacture comprising a ribbon of plastic sheet material having a particular width and a series of disks having a diameter 'less than the Particular Width, successive pairs of disks yin the series being disposed in spaced and isolated relationship to each other along the ribbon, each of the disks being separated from the ribbon along substantially its complete circumference and being integral with the ribbon at a narrow neck portion for separation from the ribbon upon the application of a shearing force to the disk at the narrow neck portion, each of said disks having a coating of abrasive material on one of its faces and a coating of normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive on its other face, said disks being mounted facewise on said ribbon with their adhesive coatings contacting the ribbon and releasably holding the disks on the ribbon.

3, An article of manufacture comprising `a ribbon of flexible sheet `material with an abrasive coating on one of its faces and a coating of a normally tacky pressureto one another with a diameter less than the particular width of the ribbon and being displaced along their circumferences from the pair of spaced end surfaces on the ribbon.

`4. An article of manufacture comprising a roll of spirally Wound ribbon of fiexible sheet material with abrasive coating on one of its faces, said ribbon having partially cut out manually separable disk portions and a coating of a normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive on its other face and sealing material coating the opposite sides of said roll to seal off the opposite longitudinal edges of the ribbon from the atmosphere to keep said adhesive coating from drying out.

5. Means for dispensing adhesively coated abrasive disks comprising:

a ribbon of iiexible sheet material with an abrasive t coating on one of its faces and a coating of normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive on its other face, said ribbon having partially cut out disk portions;

means to advance said ribbon into a dispensing zone;

and

means in said dispensing Zone to bend said ribbon to cause said partially cut out disk portions to swing outwardly from the ribbon.

6. Means for dispensing adhesively coated abrasive disks comprising:

a roll of spirally wound ribbon of flexible sheet material with an abrasive coating on one of its faces and a coating of normally tacky pressure-sensitive adhesive on its other face, said ribbon having partially cut out disk portions;

means in a dispensing zone to bend said ribbon to cause said partially cut `out disk portions to swing outward from the ribbon; and

means to reel in the ribbon minus said disk -portions thereby to advance the ribbon to said dispensing Zone and past said bending means.

7. A combination as set forth in claim 6 which includes means to prevent reverse rotation of said reel means when said disk portions are manually removed at the dispensing zone.

8. Means for dispensing adhesively coated abrasive disks comprising:

a roll of spirally wound plastic ribbon; and

a series -of disks distributed along said ribbon in isolated relationship to one another, each of said disks having a coating of abrasive material on one of its faces and a coating of pressure-sensitive adhesive on its other face, said disks being mounted facewise on `said plastic ribbon with their adhesive coatings contacting the ribbon and releasably holding the disks on the ribbon and with the disks being separated from the ribbon along substantially their full circumference and being integral with the ribbon along a small portion of their circumference to obtain a removal of the disks from the ribbon by a shearing action of the integral portion.

9. In combination,

a flexible ribbon having a first strip with a chain of disk-shaped segments disposed in spaced relationship and provided lwith first and second opposite faces, each disk-shaped segment being coated with abrasive material on its first face and being coated on its second face with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, each disk-shaped segment being separated from the ribbon along substantially its full circumference and being integral with the ribbon along a small portion of its circumference,

a first reel for holding the ribbon in a coiled relationship and for providing an unwinding of the ribbon from the reel,

guide means for `guiding the movement of the ribbon in accordance with the unwinding of the ribbon from the first reel and for producing a separation of each disk-shaped segment from the ribbon about the integral portion of the segment to facilitate a manual removal of the segment from the ribbon as the diskshaped segment moves over the guide means, and

a second reel for receiving the ribbon after the movement of the ribbon over the guide means and the removal of the disk-shaped segments from the ribbon.

lil. The combination set forth in claim 9 wherein the second reel is provided with means for obtaining a rotation of the second reel in a first direction to wind the ribbon on the second reel and for preventing a rotation of the reel in a second direction opposite to the first direction to facilitate the removal of each disk-shaped segment from the ribbon at the position of the guide means.

il. The combination set forth in claim 10 wherein the ribbon has a width greater than the circumference of each disk-shaped segment and wherein each disk-shaped segment is spaced along its circumference from the ends defining the width of the ribbon.

l2. in combination,

a flexible ribbon having a first strip with a chain of disk-shaped segments disposed in spaced relationship and provided `with first and second opposite faces, each disk-shaped segment being coated with abrasive material on its first face and being coated on its second face with a pressure-sensitive adhesive, each disk-shaped segment being separated from the ribbon along substantially its full circumference and being integral with the ribbon along a small portion of its circumference,

a first reel for holding the ribbon in a coiled relationship and for providing an unwinding of the ribbon from the reel,

a second reel -for providing an unwinding of the ribbon from the first reel and for receiving the ribbon unwound from the first reel, and

means on the second reel for obtaining a rotation of the second reel in a first direction to unwind the ribbon from the first reel and wind the ribbon on the second reel and for preventing a rotation of the `second reel `in a second direction opposite to the first direction to facilitate the manual removal of each disk-shaped segment from the ribbon by a shearing action at the integral portion of the disk-shaped segmeut.

9 lf3 13. The combination set forth in claim 12 wherein the 2,732,065 1/ 1956 Marchese. ribbon has a width greater than the circumference of each 2,843,469 7/1958 Miller et ai 51-297 disk-shaped sevrnent and wherein each disk-shaped seg- 2,888,785 6/1959 Kellican et al. 51-406 ment is spaced along its circumference from the ends de- 3,016,294 l/ 1962 Haywood 51-297 Iining tne Wdh of the ribbon.

References Qite by the Examiner 765,039 1/1957 Great Britain UNlTED STATES PATENTS P'l'l'y Exil/Wlfr- 2,4s5,295 1o/1949 Larson 20s-56 10 LEWh vi. 1 LE, Ex 2,602,719 7/1952 Thiene er a1. 2121-73 DR l SW NG Immer 2,644,280 7/1953 Oneil 51-406 L. S. SELMAN, Assz'sIa/zt Exan'ziner. 

1. MEANS FOR DISPENSING ADHESIVELY COATED ABRASIVE DISKS COMPRISING A RIBBON OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL IN THE FORM OF A SPIRALLY WOUND ROLL, SAID RIBBON HAVING A SERIES OF MANUALLY RELEASABLE DISKS DISPOSED IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO ONE ANOTHER ALONG THE RIBBON AND SEPARATED FROM THE RIBBON ALONG SUBSTANTIALLY THE FULL CIRCUMFERENCES OF THE DISKS AND ATTACHED TO THE RIBBON AT NARROW NECK PORTIONS OF THE DISKS, EACH DISK BEING COATED WITH ABRASIVE MATERIAL ON ONE OF ITS FACES AND BEING COATED ON ITS OTHER FACE WITH A PRESSURE-SENSITIVE ADHESIVE. 